In the field of wiring homes and buildings, whether for new construction or for improvements or expansion, substantial development and product improvements may be necessary. Typically, these improvements are directed to enabling installers to securely mount any desired wiring in any desired location in the most efficient and quickest manner.
In any particular installation or location, various cables must be interconnected to each other as well as connected to the primary power supply in a suitable power distributing junction box or fuse box. In each of these instances, metal sheath cables, within which the electric power carrying wires are contained, must be securely mounted to the housing of the junction box or outlet box, or connected to appropriate devices, in a protected area.
Liquid tight conduit fittings are commonly used to terminate an end extent of a length of flexible conduit to an electrical enclosure such as a junction box. It will be appreciated that such conduit fittings, which are often formed from a plastic material such as UV resistant PVC, may be used in both exterior and interior applications. The fittings must be able to withstand certain environmental and/or physical conditions without failure.
As shown in FIG. 1, prior art coupling devices 107 are generally tubular, with threaded opposite ends for receiving the conduit and/or opening. These devices 107 contain many components including a locknut 101, a sealing ring 105, a connector body 102, a ferrule 103, a compression ring 106 and a compression nut 104. Most prior art devices disadvantageously require a multi-step installation process that requires the initial disassembly of the packed coupling device 107 before re-assembly and installation. Also, it is very difficult for the user to secure both ends of the conduit through the liquid-tight connectors to two different terminals such as two junction boxes because when one end is secured to one terminal, the conduit is totally fixed and cannot be moved or rotated to enable the other end thereof to be secured to the other terminal. Therefore, there remains a need for a new and improved design for a liquid-tight connector to overcome the problems presented above.